The Ice Will Melt Some Day
by holanio
Summary: Before the time Mikan had come, Nobara Ibaragi was already admitted into Alice Academy long before. In her attempt to try and make friends, she comes across a boy, who helps her. It all leads up to meeting Mikan, see what happens before then.
1. The Encounter

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter One "The Encounter"

* * *

**Disclaimers. I didn't make Gakuen Alice. Daichi Hanahisaki is a made up character.  
Niji is a real song by Aqua Timez. Just another fanfic. Sankyuus Very Much.**

In the mysterious school called Alice Academy, people with God given abilities are gathered together on the search for more people like them. They call these abilities, Alices. Alices make the world go round, but the world makes the Alices spin like crazy.

* * *

"Get her! Don't let her get away again!" a commanding voice shouted in darkness of the night.

Fast footsteps rushed across the light of the moon and a fast panting tried to keep itself hidden. The water fountain turned to ice as the figure passed by.

_Oh no, they'll find me. Oh please, alice, don't give me away. I have to get away from there. I-I just have too…no matter…what…it…tak—  
_

She fell to the ground, weak, tired and cold. Ice cold.

---Morning---

The sun has risen and birds chirp in the small portion of the forest. Light hits through the windows of the dorm room. A girl, who was bruised just about everywhere and her hair, was tangled with leaves and small twigs. She was waking up to the morning light in a strange bed. A boy, sleeping on the couch across from her, who seemed like he was knocked out unconscious, was sleeping very soundly, with only a wisp from his mouth.

"Whe-Where am I?" she unconsciously asked out loud. Her face was blank in awe. She looked around the room; a small couch, a decent bed, a small kitchen, a small table with two chairs and some decorations here and there. Strangely enough, there was music playing, a music player! Softly, Niji had been playing throughout the room and it calmed her soul.

The boy woke up, somewhat surprised, but then smiled and said suddenly, "You're awake."

The girl panicked and flustered. "A-And what if I am?" she stuttered.

"You can use the bathroom if you want to take a shower; there are some extra clothes in my drawers. You can just borrow any of which you like and my towels are in the bathroom already. I'll cook some food and, oh, I won't peek." He chuckled.

_Why is he so informal, and he is offering me so much, I don't even know him! It doesn't seem like he'll try and take advantage of me. I should at least say my name, it's only proper. Maybe…just maybe, he was the one who rescued me last night?  
_

"Umm…My name is Nobara Ibaragi. I think you saved me last night? Or…was I wrong?" she had hesitated. Afraid that he would recognize her name and shun her out like all of her other classmates. Instead, he did something even stranger.

"Ibaragi-san? No, Ira-chan? Yeah, that sounds nice. Nice to meet you, you may not know me, but I'm Daichi Hanahisaki. Sorry if it's a girly name." he smiled sweetly at her. "If you want, you can just call me Hiki-kun." He quickly stated, as if he predicted that she would ask a question of that sort.

"Hiki-kun…" she said under her voice. Trying out the flow of the name and then tried out her new nickname, "Ira-chan…" Her face was getting redder by the second. Without thinking, she took some clothes and walked into the bathroom. Closing the door behind her and locking it.

_I'm not the 'Ice Princess' or "Snow Woman" anymore, I'm just Ira-chan. I like this feeling, I've never felt anything like it before. To be smiled at so warmly. Ah…  
_

Meanwhile, Daichi was cooking some omrice in his small, but quaint kitchen. Happily preparing two dishes to be placed on the usually lonely table, and a glass of orange juice per person. He picked a couple of bright red flowers and put it in a slim glass vase. It looked chic, but he placed it on the middle of the small wooden table. Suddenly remember his music player, he turned it off and disconnected the adapter cable. He looked up and Nobara walked out shyly in his clothes.

"You look cute! Sorry I don't have a hair dryer either." He announced boldly. "Want some breakfast?" he asked.

She nodded while looking at the floor. Then she walked slowly towards the dining table.

"Time for introductions!" he told her. "So, Ira-chan, how old are you? What's your alice? What class are you in and what alice type are you?"

"Umm…" she hesitated. It was obvious that she didn't want to say anything about herself, but she decided. For the sake of this person, that she would. "I'm 12…I'm in the middle school division," trying to indirectly answer the question. "My alice is…my type is…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Ira-chan. Thank you for trying though." He could tell her feelings right away and started talking about himself instead. "I'm 13, so I'm in the middle school division too! I have the alice of cooking, that means I'm in the technical class. That also means I'm your senpai by one year," he proudly said.

_The alice of cooking? That's why this food tastes so good.  
_

Unrealizing in her hunger, she had finished the whole plate of omrice within minutes. When she picked up the glass of orange juice it had started to cool at a rapid rate. The glass was freezing to a point in which it was crystallizing, and then finally…broke!

"Ira-chan! Watch out!" Daichi shouted as pushed his chair over to reach Nobara's hand. He quickly slapped the glass to the ground, where it broke into thousands, no, millions of ice crystals and had left a dent in the floor.

_Oh no! He found out, he knows my alice. He knows who I am now! I…I can't handle this anymore. I thought I could make a normal friend in this cursed school, but it doesn't matter how hard I tried to hide myself. Because in the end, it will only hurt me even more.  
_

Nobara stared at the ground where the glass had broken. Her eyes were blank and filled with despair. In a flash, her stillness became movement. And she tried to run out of the room.

Daichi saw her trying to escape the room. Determined not to lose another possible friend, he rushed in after her, dropping the dust pan and broom he was using. He grabbed her arm before she could leave the doorway. They both stopped in their tracks and stood still in silence.

"Ira-chan, don't you leave me without explaining some things first." His voice was stern and serious.

"What do you want from me?" Nobara asked with a shaky voice.

"Some questions and to clear up some misunderstandings is all. You know how it is to lose someone precious right? Let's not try to avoid it with small talk." Daichi replied with a straight face.

The two walked back into his room before closing the door and split ways, Nobara, to a wooden chair and Daichi, to his couch. They sat in an awkward standstill.

He went straight into questionnaire mode, "Why were those guards chasing you? Why did you have to run away? If you're in trouble, then I can help you. How come you're so secretive?" he asked on and on. Questions piled on one another.

Nobara, trying to answer, but it was too overwhelming. So she just decided to explain the whole situation to him. She shushed him and did so. "I have a reputation in this school, and it's not a very good one either. I'm known as the Ice Princess because…well, I have the alice of ice. I'm placed in the dangerous class and I follow under the rule of Persona. Though, don't think too badly of him if you have heard rumors! He isn't as bad as everyone says, it just that, you have to _know_ him… Anyways, I'm not allowed to join my classmates and when I do, they bully me, but it's better than being stuck in a room all the time! I-I just wanted to make some friends. Everyone looks so happy…So I thought maybe I could make a good friend if I tried too."

He sighed with contentment, "I see…well then, it's not a bad reason after all! I'm so relieved." He stared back towards Nobara, who was fiddling with her fingers looking down at the floor. "Ira-chan, if you want, we can become good friends, even better even."

She looked up with a blank face. "Wha-what? Really?" Her voice was hesitating and it was hard to believe she could befriend someone so quickly.

He nodded politely. "Try saying my name sometime, I'll respond if it's you." He stood up from the couch and walked in the direction of the shower. "I'm gonna take a shower now, don't leave okay? You can stay here as long as you want." Then he finally closed the bathroom door, but it left it open out of a force of habit.

"Hiki-kun, I'm so glad it's Sunday."

**Typer's Note -**

By the way, if you don't get what Nobara meant by that, it means they don't have to go to class that day.  
Before I tell you too much, I hope it was satisfactory.  
My first typed out fanfic. Wew!  
Umm.. Review if you feel up to it because I need some help on the writing.  
Got the whole story planned out, now...if I can finish it?


	2. Divine Punishment

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Two "Divine Punishment"

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Disclaimer: I didn't make Gakuen Alice. Misaki Harada, Tsubasa Andou and Subaru Imai are real characters from the manga. Enjoy it though.

In the middle of the night, a girl with wavy hair wakes up from the couch she slept on. The windows were wide open, the curtains were tied up and the cool air had set inside the room. The moon was glowing in the clear sky and stars were twinkling at the same time, as to showcase the beauty of the moon's radiance. It was truly a sight to see. She changed her position so that she was sitting criss-crossed on the couch now. Yesterday was a roller coaster ride, meeting a new friend and now staying in this room for a while. Nobara was staring into the night sky and thought intently about the future.

The boy rolled onto his opposite side on his bed to face her. He asked her in a low voice, "Ira-chan? Is the couch all right with you? Something on your mind lately?"

"Yes. What are we going to do about school? I'm in the dangerous class and…my classmates don't like me. So I stayed with Persona and such, but…if I go back to class, he's going to find me again. What should we do Hiki-kun?" Nobara asked with a concerned voice.

"That's a good point," he replied. Daichi got out of his bed and walked over to Nobara's side and sat down next to her. "I want to ask you something first."

Nobara looked at him, as if to say that she was ready for any or all questions.

Daichi looked back and asked, "Do you want to go to class? If so, then there shouldn't be much of a problem. Just come to class with me and I'll make sure the class will accept you and keep it a secret for as long as possible. Okay?"

Nobara's face was blank. She couldn't believe the offer she was just given. In her moment of dullness, she slapped herself to reassure that it wasn't a dream or even a nightmare. Daichi laughed at her weird, but adorable little actions.

"Can you really do that Hiki-kun?" she wanted to make sure.

"I can, and I will. All we need to do is change your hairstyle a little bit and give you some type of alias. That way, other faculty members won't notice you as quickly." He reassured her.

It was as if, he already had a plan thought out from the moment Nobara caught his eyes. They continued the conversation a little longer and talked about other things that Nobara may have been concerned about, such as; attendance, seat and things within that kind of category.

Daichi finished talking and he left Nobara to go back to sleep. Good nights were passed to one another and both slept with pleasant dreams that night.

-----Next Morning-----

Birds were chirping and the sun had risen. Constant knocks banged on the door. Nobara and Daichi were still in a daze from waking up so abruptly.

"Daichiiii! Wake up and open the freaking door already. I got what you asked me for yesterday! Wake up, wake up! Time for school!" a voice commanded over and over again.

"Shut up!" complained Daichi. "Sorry, Ira-chan…This girl is so loud."

"Oh, it's okay." She said quietly.

Daichi opened the door angrily. "Give me the clothes Misaki."

There in the doorway, a 13 year old girl wearing the middle school uniform with red shoulder length hair was holding a bag of clothes. She walked into the room and caught sight of Nobara.

"Oh, so you're the infamous Ira-chan I've been hearing about. Here's your fresh new set of uniforms and some of my old clothes. Hope you like." Misaki handed Nobara the bag of clothes. "By the way, I'm Misaki Harada, I'm gonna be in the same class as you today. I'm in the special class and I have the doppelganger alice. I'm your senpai too!" she said cheerfully.

"No one cares Misaki. Nobara, you can go change now, I'll make breakfast again." Daichi said.

"Ah yes, thank you very much, both of you. I'm very grateful for all the things you have done and the things that are you going to do for me. I'm really happy," thanked Nobara. She hurried off to the restroom and closed the door behind her.

"She's a cute kid. I should go help her with her hair and stuff. Do you mind?" commented Misaki.

"_I_, personally don't mind if you help her. But _you_ have to ask _her_ whether or not she minds," he replied casually while putting on an apron.

"Alright then." She skipped along to where Nobara was and knocked on the door.

Daichi was cooking food and suddenly remember something odd. He asked Misaki, "Hey, Misaki…I noticed that Tsubasa wasn't with you today. How come?"

Misaki looked back at Daichi and replied, "That's. None. Of. Your. Business." Then she turned around again and went into the restroom with Nobara to fix her hair.

Moments later, as Daichi was placing the plates of food down, Misaki and Nobara came out of the restroom. Daichi took off his apron and walked up towards Nobara's general direction. "Wow, you are so cute Ira-chan! That hairstyle looks nice on you. Is it easy to make?"

Nobara shyly answered him back, "It isn't too difficult. Thank you." Her hair was tied into two pig tails on each side of her head. Her bangs were side swept and held with a black hair clip. Her face was visible and eyes were accented by her dark blue hair.

"That's good to know. Thanks Misaki, you two can go eat now. I'll go change. Then afterwards it's class. Exciting isn't it Ira-chan?" Daichi said. He left the two and went into the restroom after getting his uniform.

Misaki and Nobara went to the table and ate Daichi's food. It was delicious and fit the mood of the day. They had a bowl of rice, strips of fried egg and soy sauce. Within ten minutes or so, Daichi joined them and finished his breakfast. The three left the room and set off to class before they were late. Unfortunately, time got to a point where it had all three of them sprinting to class. They barely made it.

Misaki had reluctantly sat down next to Tsubasa, a 13 year old boy who had a beanie and spiked hair. Daichi guided Nobara in and told her to sit next to him in the middle back of the room. Class started and most of the students' eyes were on Nobara, which made her feel awkward. She glanced at Daichi for some kind of reassurance that this was a safe thing to do. Below the vision of wandering eyes, he held her hand in reassurance. Her face was hot.

The teacher noticed the strange girl in the back of the classroom and asked Daichi who she was. Daichi came down and told the teacher. For whatever reason, the teacher just went with it. Daichi came back up and whispered to Nobara, "Your alias is Ira Koori, you're 13 years old and your alice is ice of course. Everyone knows you are in the dangerous class, but that won't be talked about. Good luck Ira-chan." He sat straight again and faced into the direction of the board and listened to the teacher.

Nobara continued to listen to the lessons as 'Ira Koori', which was felt weird for her, but she tried to adapt. It was nice that people weren't staring on her back coldly with rejection like what happened with her class before.

The bell rang, the next period was about to begin, but everyone was taking a stretch after such a long lecture. Nobara stood up as well and Daichi took her hand and led her to some of the classmates to get introduced to each other.

"This is Tsubasa Andou, Misaki's boyfriend." Daichi pointed out, but then Misaki whacked him on the head and Daichi corrected himself, "I mean, umm, one of her closest childhood acquaintances. If that makes any difference." He muttered to himself. "And this is our new classmate, Ira Koori."

Tsubasa took a second and examined the new kid in class, and then he shook her hand and welcomed her to their class. Most of the class was watching as well, so others introduced themselves and greeted Nobara.

In the back of the classroom, a small group of girls and boys, were huddled together and whispering things to each other.

"Who does that girl think she is?" one girl ridiculed.

"I heard that she was the infamous Ice Queen. That would fit her name so well, it's disgusting," another girl said.

"Even her look is hideous, what's with the pigtails and the stupid look on her face? Trying to act all innocent, but she's secretly just trying to get them to like her." A boy mocked.

The insults kept coming, and Nobara felt an airy look from behind her. Someone or somebody doesn't want her here and she has to be careful about what she does or says.

The break ended as the teacher arrived and the rest of the classes were the same. Once it was time for homeroom, everyone sat down and the homeroom teacher started talking.

"Settle down everyone, we have to discuss some things," the teacher stated and continued talking for the rest of the period.

The bell rang again and everyone left.

Nobara was feeling pretty good about the whole day overall. Although there were a couple things bothering her, it was okay. She followed Daichi, but then he got called off somewhere.

"Sorry, Ira-chan, can you stay here? I'll be back. Or you can go with someone else, like Tsubasa or Misaki alright? Sorry again," he told her. Thus, Daichi left to run an errand for someone.

"I'll wait here or just wonder a little, I'll come back to the...I mean my room eventually," Nobara said to herself. She waited for a few minutes and some of the girls from before came up to her. They asked Nobara if she could come with them and help them with something. Nobara agreed and went along with them. "Where are we going? What do you need help with? Do you think I can help you with it?" Nobara asked cautiously.

The girls looked at each other and said, "You'll know. Don't you worry one bit..._yet_." They whispered the 'yet' part so that Nobara couldn't hear it. Once they got down the hallway, they turned left into a secret little garden. The garden was filled with all types of herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. It was beautiful and had almost everything you needed to cook a variety of dishes. In the middle was a wonderful little fountain with a stone humming bird spurting out water from it's beak.

"It's beautiful..." Nobara complimented. "Whose garden is it?" she asked the girls.

"This garden belongs to and was entirely grown by Daichi Hanahisaki. He used to use it to create wonderful dishes and have tea parties for the people he loved, but he stopped because of some tragedy. Do you want to know what happened, _Koori-san_?" a girl told Nobara.

Nobara was wary of these girls, but she wanted to know more about Daichi's Garden. "I do, if you may?"

Another girl stepped in a starting telling the story, "Some months ago, Daichi was madly in love with a girl who had the alice of equivalent trade. She loved him just as much, but one day she had lost her sight, her eyes were not physically injured in any way, but she became blind all of sudden. He found out that she healed a person who needed to see to be able to use their alice. She gave that person her sight and took in his blindness. Daichi comforted her day and night, helping the one he loved as much as possible. That person came back, however, attacked Daichi. Daichi's heart was almost frozen and he almost died until she heard of it. She traded her own heart so that Daichi could live. He became extremely depressed for months and only recently got better."

"Now, do you know why we are even telling you this Koori-san or shall I say Ice Queen?" the other girl asked.

Nobara answered, "No..." She started backing up because the girls were getting unusually close to her.

The girls got annoyed and got closer to Nobara as she moved back. "We're telling you this because _you_ have the ice alice and the person that caused Daichi's unhappiness had the ice alice too. In order to protect our 'fire's flower', you have to leave and stop causing him so much suffering. It would be better if we could get him to hate you. He forgave that damn person! That will not happen this time though..."

All of a sudden, the girls ripped out the tomato vines, stomped on the chilie peppers and used their alices to completely devastate the garden. They pushed over the fountain and it broke into large pieces, seemingly unrepairable. The once glittering garden had become dark and broken. Everything was in destruction's path. Some of the boys came and threw dirt at Nobara using their alices, afraid Nobara might use her own alice to retaliate. In their sick and distorted minds, they wanted her to attack them, all of them. It would have made it so much easier to set their plan up and frame her for the destruction of the garden.

Nobara stood her ground and did not retaliate; she took the blows of dirt and crushed vegetables. Her uniform was in a mess, soaked in mud and various plant liquids. Her hair was littered with stems and remains of fruits. Her body was sore and weak.

The group of girls and boys smirked devilishly at each other and took shards of the broken fountain and cut Nobara everywhere on her body. Their original plan of setting Nobara up and getting her in deep trouble had changed. All they had on their minds now, was to cause her endless suffering.

You could hear muffled screams coming from the dark, isolated corner of the school. After they were satisfied, they tried to leave without anyone noticing them. Nobara was left in excruciating pain and just seconds after they stopped abusing her, she fell unconscious. Half dead in the ruins of Daichi's Eden...

Daichi sensed something was terribly wrong. He ran over to where Nobara was supposed to wait for him. She wasn't there. He heard some voices coming his way, he dashed into the corridor.

_Nobara, what in heaven's name happened to you? Just wait for me, I promised you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you._

He stopped running when he saw the group of girls and boys from his class. "Have you seen No- I mean, Ira-chan?"

The girl said, "Nowhere to be seen."

"You should be thankful to us though, we took care of your problems," a boy told Daichi.

Daichi examined the group of classmates. They were dirty and their hands had marks on them. "No...I should kick your sorry ass because you messed with the wrong person, bastards."

The group was stunned by the foul language. One of the girls, heartbroken, had to ask, "W-why do you say that Daichi-kun?"

Daichi looked them straight in the eye, "You touch Ira-chan again, and I'll hurt you from the inside out. Probably should report you because your clothes tell me everything, you know, I don't only cook good food. I try to cook up hot justice and throw away any rotten food like you losers."

Misaki, Tsubasa and some other students were passing by the hall. Daichi called out to them.

"Take care of these rotten pieces of shits, I have to go find Ira-chan," he told them.

Misaki and friends knew the situation was serious and found out immediately what was happening. "Hurry up you idiot, she won't last forever." Misaki warned him. It didn't take twice for him to speed down the hallway.

"Now what to do with these troublemakers?" Tsubasa inquired. An idea sparked in his head. "Got it. Misaki help me hold these guys down and the rest of you go and get the teachers, they need to see something interesting." The others left quickly. Misaki and Tsubasa used both of their alices keep the guilt ridden students in their place.

Meanwhile, Daichi reached the garden panting hard. He saw the apocalypse in such a small area. Then he saw Nobara, on the ground laying still. She wasn't breathing. Daichi rushed by her side and saw the mass amounts of brutality inflicted on her body. Her clothes were barely strips of cloth and her hair all messed up and...It was just a horrific image.

He lifted her up and ran back through the hallways, crying for help on the top of his lungs. Daichi was getting tired from running so much and the sheer weight of Nobara's seemingly dead body made things just as dim. Until he spotted Subaru Imai, the student who had the healing alice from the high school division. Daichi cried out to Imai-san and Imai saw the girl.

Imai hurried over and asked Daichi, "What happened to this girl? She looks...well..." He stopped his sentence, feeling the sorrow of Daichi. "I'll do my best to keep her alive, is that acceptable for you? If not, then...there's not much else _I_ can do."

"I understand, just heal her dammit," Daichi said with anguish.

Slowly, Nobara's external wounds were disappearing, but her internal wounds were barely taking shape again. Daichi's face was filled with regret and anger. He knew that there was only one way to save Nobara and keep his promise to her.

"Hanahisaki-san, this is as far as I can go without overdoing it. What do you choose to do now?" Imai-san inquired.

"I-I...have to do it. Thank you Imai-senpai. I really thank you for all you've tried to do so far. I'll take it from here. You know, I just can't let her die, whether or not I've known her for one day or one year," Daichi said solemnly. He held her body close to his own.

A bright light engulfed the halls of the middle school division. Within this area, everyone felt a new sense of refreshment. Nobara had finally awaken from her meeting with death. Her eyes set on Daichi's tear flooded face. He tried to smile, and such a sorrowful smile it was.

**Typer's Note -**

'How could you do something so evil to my favorite character? D:'  
Happy Halloween...  
But I hope it brought powerful dramatic feelings.  
Was it a good chapter update?  
Reviews would help me improve it.  
Only if you have the time, even if it's just a sentence or less.  
I'd be grateful either way.


	3. Pre Christmas Memories

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Three "Pre Christmas Memories"  
**  
Disclaimer: I did not make Gakuen Alice or any of it's characters besides Daichi Hanahisaki and Kawasegiri Shunko  
**

A few weeks after the incident known as the 'Yu Mei Ku Hatsu Incident' by the population of the academy, everything was somehow back to normal. Well, as normal as normal could be in Alice Academy. Everyone was getting ready for the Annual Christmas Ball and were anticipating every second of its festivities and bliss. It was one of the brightest times in the academy, where everyone was all smiles and only hints of gloom were sighted.

"Ira-chan!" Daichi cried out while running towards the timid ice princess. He panted hard when he finally caught up to her. "Excited for the Christmas Ball? Got anyone to go with this year?"

Nobara looked back at him with a sigh of content. She merely said under her breath, "Not really." Then she thought about it again. "Why do you ask so many questions Hiki-kun?"

Honestly, he didn't know why he asked so many questions. "Maybe it's because of my questionable nature," he replied with a smile.

Nobara giggled. The two left the hallway behind to go and help with the decorations and cake. While they were walking. Nobara asked, "Hiki-kun? Which group were you put into, to help?"

"I was put in the cooking group," he replied. Nobara felt stupid, she slapped her forehead. "Why'd you do that for?" he laughed.

"You have the cooking alice, I can't believe I asked that," she said with embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't even thinking that, that was such an obvious answer. Anyways, here comes another question. What group were you put in? Having an ice alice has a lot of possibilities," Daichi remarked. Nobara kept walking in silence. Daichi kept asking her until she answered him.

"I wasn't really put into a group," she finally announced.

Daichi's eyes widened. "Why not?" He had asked another question.

"Personally I don't know. Maybe it's because...I'm never usually around to attend the Christmas Ball. So this year won't be much different."

Daichi thought as they entered the grand room where the ball was going to be held. "You can just help the cooking group, with your alice, I'm sure we can find something for you to do!" he exclaimed. He grabbed her wrist and run with her towards a blue haired boy and a red haired girl.

The boy with the hat and blue hair stopped what he was doing and turned to Nobara and Daichi. "Hey Daichi, Ira-chan, what's up?"

A red haired girl jumped off the chair she was using and greeted them as well. "Are you guys helping out with the decoration team?" she asked.

Daichi replied, "Hey Misaki and Tsubasa. Naah, Ira-chan is going to help me cook this year." For some reason, Tsubasa and Misaki were very surprised by this development. It was practically written on their faces that this was a completely foreign idea and they just couldn't fathom it.

Misaki asked in a concerned voice, "A-Are you sure you can handle cooking this year? Maybe you should wait another year Daichi." Daichi simply gave her a pat on the shoulder and gave her a sign that he was going to be okay. Without another word, Daichi led Nobara to the cooking section of the preparations, and Tsubasa and Misaki exchanged glances, worried for the poor guy.

For the next few weeks, everyone worked hard to make the Academy's greatest Christmas Ball that year. If you were wondering about our nine and ten year old class B buddies, here's what they were up to...

Kokoroyomi was reading people's mind and laughing at them with Kitsuneme as usual. On the occasion, Kitsuneme was called on by the decorating team to help them put up the Christmas ornaments towards the top of the tree. Then Sumire would come along and yell at Koko for being so useless at the moment. Kokoroyomi would make some funny, yet witty remark about how all Sumire could do was boss people around. He'd laughed again and walk away to where ever his next victim laid. Sumire would get really mad and chase after Koko, pounding him in the head. She sees Ruka and Natsume pass by side by side. Then rush over and kiss up to them. Of course, Natsume and Ruka would ignore this and help a little bit if they called for them.

Anna was banned from the cooking group this year because she had not yet mastered her alice as well yet. They were afraid that Anna might use some very questionable ingredients and feared for the students' safety. Anna was placed in the decorating team and ended up cooking something anyways. It turned out to be stringed popcorn that would turn green if they were about to barf and yellow when they were about to make farting sounds. As you can guess, they got rid of it immediately. The enormous Christmas tree looked like it was about to die from the revolting actions of the stringed popcorn. Nonoko was helping the cooking group though. She created chemicals that would make the yeast rise perfectly. It didn't turn out well so they abandoned the project and then she just helped with the basic tasks.

Mochiage helped with the decorating team of course. Using his telekinesis to put up the ornaments, or on occasions small people to put up the ornaments for him. Tobita was running around like crazy, responding to everyone's needs. Using his illusion alice to make people think it was so far up when decorating the trees or the walls. Hotaru created many inventions for the sake of decorating and cooking. Occasionally she used her inventions to help, but mostly she just sold them for plenty of rabbits in return. Otonashi, gave predictions to students who were worried about their love lives and were desperate enough to do the dance of foretelling. In a nutshell, everyone was incredibly busy.

Back to Nobara's and Daichi's progress.

"Hey Ira-chan, could you cool this down a little bit?" he requested. Nobara tried to use her alice properly and got it just right, this time. The rest of the times, she failed and almost gave up on cooking. Daichi tried to comfort her with his smiles and words of reassurance. "Don't worry Nobara, in a few more days it will be Christmas! Won't that be the greatest thing ever?"

Nobara was depressed, "No...not if I'm there to mess it up." Daichi rolled his eyes. He stood up and took Nobara hands with him. They both were running out of the ballroom. Misaki and Tsubasa laughed.

"I can't believe he's rushing into it again!" Misaki commented with her arms crossed. Tsubasa looked at Misaki for a moment and he smiled. Misaki looked back. "What do you want Tsubasa?"

He stopped smiling at her and looked in the opposite direction. "Nothing much. Although somehow, I kinda wish I was like Daichi a little more. He's a bit more expressive in that sense. I wish I could tell the person I cared about, how I felt." Misaki gave him a look. She raised her eyebrow and shook her head a couple times back and forth, deeply contemplating Tsubasa's statement.

"Then just tell them?" she said plainly. Tsubasa sighed. "What? Why are you sighing?" He just walked away and Misaki kept nagging him all the way.

Meanwhile, Nobara is running her marathon with Daichi again. "Where are you taking me this time, Hiki-kun?" He only continued the smirk he held for a such a long time.

"You'll see very soon, no worries." They continued on their way through the winding hallways, until Nobara couldn't take it anymore. It was the run of her life and she still hadn't made it all the way. She slowed down into a walk and breathed deeply. Daichi was brought to a stop and looked back to see Nobara exhausted. "Oh, I'm so sorry Ira-chan...Didn't realize how tired you were," he paused, "...and how tired _I_ was." He fell on the ground simultaneously with Nobara.

Nobara and Daichi sat in the middle of the hallway, no one else was present, it was only the two of them. Nobara broke the silence, "So...you didn't answer my question Hiki-kun. Sorry if I'm just repeated things."

Daichi gave her a pat on her head and he pointed up through the archway of the academy hall. She looked towards where his finger was pointing and she saw it. Daichi's Eden had been fixed and restored. It was amazingly, never in her life had she seen something so beautiful been recreated with even more radiance. That night, the first signs of snow came. The late winter had finally begun in Alice Academy.

"Do you like it?" he asked again. Her eyes were still stuck on the garden. He poked her a couple of times for her to regain her senses.

The snow queen finally broke out of her mesmerized state. "Huh? What? Sorry. How did you fix it so fast?" she asked.

"This garden will never die because, well do you see over there?" He point at the place the fountain used to be. There was a type of carving or symbol that had been stuck there. It was in the shape of a balance or scale that they would use in the olden times. "That's where _she_ died..." he stated slowly with a softer smile, a sadder smile.

Nobara eyes were heavy. "What was her name?" she asked with consideration.

"Kawasejiri Shunko," he answered. The way he said her name was sweet and it was said with such passion, Nobara had tears down her face. The mere meaning of the name and the the story put together were enough to melt the ice inside of her. "Ira-chan? Hey! Snap out of it!"

"Oh no, I did it again!" she cried out. Nobara tried to wipe the tears that were flowing from her face, but they kept coming. "Ugh, no I have to apologize. Please, continue, how did it get fixed so fast?" Daichi just stared at her for moment and figured he might as well continue.

"...You heard the story already I believe?" She nodded her head. "This is where her last equivalent exchange took place, and so because she was a limitless alice user, it was very powerful. When she died, we buried her here and the next day we found this mark. It wasn't that she was still alive when we buried her, but her alice was so powerful, that it continued after death. It stayed to protect the most important thing to it. It was as if, that was _truly_ her final equivalent exchange. In order to stay in the place she loved, she will always protect it. That's why every time the eden is ruined, it will return with more resilience," he ended his story.

"Daichi's Eden," she said to herself. Daichi turned a bit pink when she said his name.

"It's not really called Daichi's Eden. It's just a lot less depressing then it's original name." Nobara looked at Daichi, she was waiting for him to continue the statement. "Oh...well, it's was known as Shunko's Garden, and it lived up to it's name. Until...you get the idea."

Nobara could tell his heart was breaking on the inside. Just trying to say his past lover's name would be a terrible thing to even attempt doing. Nobara decided to take some responsibility. She took his hand into her own and stared at him with a determined face. "I must thank you Daichi. I'm sure your, I mean, Shunko-san's garden is glad that you can still show people it's brilliance. Whether it be in the sun of the summer or the night of winter. It's very beautiful and words can hardly describe it's wonders. It makes me happy to see something so bright!" She shook his hand constantly.

Daichi gave her a big fat grin, "You called me Daichi!"

"I did, didn't I?" she remarked excitingly.

"Yes you did," he said to himself.

The two walked hand in hand back to their room. It was cold that night, so they slept in the same bed. With smiles on their faces, the ice princess and fire flower finally went to sleep. Forever hand in hand, never letting go until fate tore them apart. Christmas was coming and the holidays never got better.

**Typer's Note - **  
I think this was a shorter chapter.  
Oh well, I hope it was good anyways.  
I loved listening to the instrumental music while writing this chapter.  
It was exuberating!!! Sorry for such a late update.  
I was finishing up _No Pets Allowed! _(read it if you can!)  
Review if you can, it would really help me wanna keep on typing fanfictions.  
I think I'd type them up anyways...

Footnotes -  
"Yu Mei Ku Hatsu Incident"  
Dark and Light Explosion Incident

"Kawasejiri Shunko"  
Kawasejiri = Balance of Exchange, Shunko = Spring Sunlight


	4. Fire Dances with Ice

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Four "Fire Dances with Ice"

**Disclaimer: I didn't make Gakuen Alice; it's just another fan fiction update! Enjoy crazy kids.**

The maroon shoulder length haired girl dashed over to the door, followed by a dark blue spiked hair boy with a beanie on. Both knocking on the door excitedly, pounding it until no end. They both shouted at the door, "Daichi! Ira-chan! Wake up! It's Christmas Eve! The Christmas ball! Comon, Comon! Wake up!!!"

A messy blue haired girl woke up in coordination with the boy who had black flat hair and green highlights. Both were very sleepy, but when they realized it was the day of the Christmas Ball, they threw off their blankets and got prepared.

Nobara opened the door for Misaki and Tsubasa. Daichi was already in the restroom, changing his clothes. "Oh my! Misaki-san, you look so pretty in that Christmas dress! Tsubasa-san, you are very handsome in that as well. I bet you two are very happy to have such a wonderful partner!" Nobara commented. Misaki was wearing a Santa based dress which was strapless and fit into an hourglass body shape, down to her knees. She wore matching boots and corset, her hair was tied into a ponytail with a red scrunchie. Tsubasa was wearing a darker looking costume, with bat wings and a slightly elfish like costume; he also wore matching boots and beanie.

Tsubasa and Misaki were both happy about Nobara's comments and replied in unison, "Thank you!" Misaki was especially glad to be called 'pretty' and gave Nobara a giant hug. Tsubasa was a little concerned that the hug might be dangerous, but went over to where Daichi's restroom and knocked. Daichi opened the door a little bit and was handed a set of clothes. The door was closed again and Tsubasa went back to where Nobara and Misaki were. He also gave Nobara a package of clothes.

"Here's your Christmas outfit Ira-chan," he smiled. Nobara nodded her head in thanks. As soon as Daichi came out of the restroom with his clothes on, Nobara rushed in so fast, he almost fell over if it weren't for the bed. Daichi was wearing the other style of costume; it was a long sleeved green jacket over a white, black trimmed shirt. He wore matching black shorts with a green trim that went down just below the knees and a pair of black classic school boots.

Nobara came out a bit later; she was back to her shy self and exited very slowly and cautiously. Misaki hurried over and did Nobara's hair quickly and efficiently. When she finally came out in the open, Daichi blushed a little and Tsubasa laughed at him. That's when Daichi also punched Tsubasa's stomach in response. Nobara was wearing the other girl's costume as well, it was a Santa styled halter and knee length skirt. She had black boots as well, but they had a white contrasting flare to them and wore separated arm sleeves. Nobara's hair was still curly, but put into a ponytail that was placed on the left side of her head. Her bangs were clipped to her right side and a flower was slipped in through the ponytail.

Daichi looked down at his watch and looked up at everyone again. "It's time to go you guys," he had a big fat grin plastered on his face. Almost everyone in the academy was excited for the Christmas Eve Ball in the Grand Hall. The four of them exited the room and Daichi snuck back in last second. Her grabbed a purple velvet jewelry box and slipped it into one of his pockets. Then he closed and locked the door and caught up with the other three.

Tsubasa glanced back to see him. "What did you get Daichi?" Daichi looked back confused. "You went back into the room to get something, what was it?" Tsubasa asked again. Daichi put one of his fingers on his lip, signaling to Tsubasa, it was a secret. Tsubasa rolled his eyes. The four of them kept walking down the hallway towards the Grand Hall. Conversing with each other until they finally reached the giant decorated doors. By sending their alices through the door, it opened up to an enormous room filled with hundreds of other students and staff members.

"Wow! Once again, this school never ceases to amaze me," Nobara commented. "It's been such a long time since I was able to go to the Christmas Eve Ball." Misaki patted her on her shoulders and signaled Nobara over. Nobara skipped along, she was very joyful at the moment and nothing could stop her, except for the person who had kept her away from the academy's student, the teacher of the dangerous class.

In their first moments of arriving at the ball, other classmates and students welcomed them. The four decided to stuff themselves full of food because the cooking group had made such delicious dishes and could hardly pass them up. Once their stomachs were bloated, Tsubasa and Misaki had chosen to dance with each other and put on their masks. They went to the dance floor with all the other couples and danced alongside with them.

Daichi sighed at their table, "Having fun yet?" His voice was monotone and he rested his head on the table.

Nobara was having a more gleeful experience and was in awe everywhere she went. "I am," she replied sweetly. She looked at all the dancers, they were all wearing masks. "What are the masks for?" she ask politely.

Daichi looked up at her and replied, "There's a legend that said if you put on a mask and confess to the person you love, that you'll be together forever. If your mask falls off while you are dancing, you will lose someone very important to you. That's pretty much it in a nutshell." He put his head down again.

She thought about it for a moment, and then saw Misaki and Tsubasa dancing together. "Are Misaki-san and Tsubasa-san in a relationship?" she inquired. It was funny how those two were always together, so she had just figured it would've been so.

He raised his head once more and took a deep breath before talking again. "No, but they should be, don't you think?" She replied to him with a nod. "Yeah...together forever eh? Doesn't that sound a little too cliché?" Nobara laughed, but she thought of the other part of the legend. _If your mask falls off while you are dancing, you will lose someone very important to you._ Kawasejiri Shunko popped into her head all of a sudden.

She hesitated for a moment, "D-Daichi?" His head moved to the side in question. "Did you happen to drop your mask last year?" He smiled at her and slowly nodded. Nobara felt a pang of sadness in her heart, she was afraid that she reminded him of something he didn't want to be reminded off. Her smile morphed into frown and she looked down at her feet.

"Don't worry about it Ira-chan," he started, "Wanna dance?" He grabbed her arm before she could answer and passed her a mask. "Wear this." Before Nobara could get a recollection of what was going on, she put on her mask and they were on the dance floor. He took her hand and put his other hand around her waist. She mirrored him and they started dancing in unison.

It seemed as if the two were the only ones dancing, they were in another world of their own. Suddenly, someone bumped into Nobara by accident, her masked was knocked out of her face. She gasped. As quickly as it dropped, Daichi caught it mid-air. He stood up straight again and wiped the non-existent sweat across his forehead. He returned her mask by putting it on her face again.

He regained composure and said, "There you go. The Ice Princess has retrieved her mask back without too much of a trouble. Would you do me of the honor, of finishing this dance with me?" he winked. With that said, they danced again. Nobara's heart was fleeting with joy.

Misaki and Tsubasa took a glance at Daichi and Nobara, it seemed like they were having a good time.

"Would you look at that Misaki? Daichi's already in love again, I can't believe he got over Kawasejiri so fast." Tsubasa remarked. Misaki looked at him in a disappointed sigh. Tsubasa just had to ask, "What?"

"Don't you remember Tsubasa? Kawasejiri traded her heart with Daichi's heart to save him. It's almost like, Kawasejiri is making him get over her and her heart is slowly transforming into Daichi's new heart. She's resetting his cycle, that's why he could get over it faster than the normal person. Daichi's true heart lay within her body. _That _is why they changed the name of the garden into Daichi's Eden. It can be considered that Daichi still only technically loves Kawasejiri to this day," Misaki explained.

Tsubasa made a funny face, "I know that, but...I can't help to think that." Instead of continuing their conversation about Daichi's heart, they talked about something else and kept dancing.

In the large Christmas tree that hovered over all of the students of Alice Academy, a boy with black hair and maroon eyes was sitting on the tree branch. He looked down upon the cheerful atmosphere and spotted someone, Nobara. He talked to himself, "What is _she_ doing here? We've been looking all over for her and had to make up most of his missions too." He was about to hopped down to get her, but someone grabbed his arm. "Chiryo Koteihyodan, what are you here for?"

The high schooler gave the boy a serious face, "Don't mess with that girl's fate. You should be more worried about your own. Before I graduate from this academy, I want to tell you something Hyuuga."

Natsume glared back at Chiryo, "What do you want foresighter?"

"I don't want anything else, but a bit of your time. One year from today, you will meet a girl who will be a crucial part of your life. This girl will also become a part of everyone else's life in this academy. I won't be here when she comes, but I know who she is, what she looks like and generally, the dramatic change that she'll bring upon this school," the brown haired high schooled explained.

Natsume raised his eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this now?" he questioned warily.

Chiryo gave a look of satisfaction, "That's because I was stalling you, don't want you getting in trouble with Persona now, you'll be on your own for mission Hyuuga. I won't be helping you anymore." He was prepared to jump off the tree, but he paused to say some last words, "All you need to remember is to watch out for an energetic girl who has pigtails!" With his statement finished, he flew off the branch and landed on the floor with a slight thump.

Before Natsume could ask him what that meant, he saw that Chiryo already left with his girlfriend to the dance floor. "Damn that guy," Natsume cursed. He then realized something, "Stalling me?" Natsume looked down at where Nobara was and saw a tall slim figure approaching her. Pitch black hair, cloaked in an unimaginable amount of alice restraints and he had a white mask on. He gasped, "Persona..." He immediately jumped down from the tree, found Ruka and hurried off into another direction.

"Hey Ira-chan?" Daichi questioned.

Nobara replied with a simple, "Yes?"

"Do you want to rest now?" he asked. She nodded with a smile. The two went towards an empty table hand in hand. As they were arriving, someone stopped them.

A tall man had called out Nobara's name. "Nobara..." he said in a cold voice.

Nobara's eyes widened in fear, tears were starting to stream down her face. She immediately recognized the voice that she had not heard in such a long time. She was somewhat hoping that the day she met this man again would never happen. Her hopes were crushed with a simple say of her name. "P-Persona..." Her hand was shivering in Daichi's hand. He looked up in fear of what he might see. This was the man she had been telling him about that night. The one who kept her away from the other students. The teacher of the dangerous class.

Persona did not even bother looking into Daichi's direction or even acknowledge his presence. He only saw Nobara and said in a low yet stern voice, "Nobara, I think it's time for you to come back with me. You've missed out on a lot of missions lately and you need to make them up to your classmates."

Nobara continued crying, she reluctantly let go of Daichi's hand. Daichi tried to regrasp it, but it slipped away from him. She softly whispered to him, "I'm sorry..." They left without another word and vanished from his sight.

By the time he had regained conscience of what was happening he ran after them with horror in his eyes. As he passed the doorway, he cried out with all his strength, "NOBARA!" It was futile, he fell on his knees. He felt hopelessness all around him. "Nobara..." he quietly cried, "I finally said your name...but why aren't I happy about it?"

With Misaki and Tsubasa leading the way, some of Daichi's classmates and friends came to see what the problem was. When they found him, he was motionless on the ground in front of the doorway.

"Daichi!" Misaki cried. She picked him off the ground; she saw the tears that formed on his face. "We gotta get you to the nurse..."

One of Daichi's friend looked around, "Where's Ira-chan? Shouldn't she be with him?"

Tsubasa and Misaki exchanged looks. A voice came from behind them, "She's been taken away by Persona, the teacher of the dangerous class. Now what will you do, middle school class C?"

Everyone turned their attention to the voice; it was Chiryo Koteihyodan with his girlfriend by his side.

Daichi's twitched; he had woken up due to all of the excitement around him. "W-We're going to get her back," he said with determination in his eyes.

"Good," Chiryo replied, "I do wish to see how you'll complete this almost impossible task. It will be an amusing way to end my final year in Alice Academy. Give me your greatest performance of your life and do not regret a single moment of it." His face was content and his girlfriend found no wrong in his speech.

Tsubasa moved his way towards the high schooler. "You have the alice of foresight, and it is always 100% accurate, can't you already see the whole result of this situation?" the shadow user questioned.

Chiryo laughed alongside his girlfriend, "That's what makes your class interesting. It's all up to what Hanahisaki wants to do, that will completely change the outcome. Kanjo, what's the overall feeling in this crowd of students? Can you tell?" Kanjo Shinmitsukan was his girlfriend's name, she had the alice of seeing people's emotions and had a second alice as well, reading what people's heart yearned for.

"Of course," she said in a sweet manner. She closed her eyes and immediately took a hold of the growing emotions in the room. It was very mixed, and so she stepped back a little due to the emotional overload. "Ah...I think, I good majority does not want to risk their life for Ibaragi-san, but a good portion wants to assist Hanahisaki-san in the retrieval of her as well. The rest are a bit neutral about the situation," she concluded.

Chiryo gave her a peck on the forehead in thanks, she hugged him back. "Well, there it is, now it is your choice Hanahisaki, are you willing to save the Ice Princess from her captor? Or will the Fire Prince back down and wait for another girl to come into his life?"

Daichi stood up with the help of Misaki and replied coolly, "You don't just wait for another Nobara-chan to come around again. You have to go around and search no matter how far, no matter how long, until you stumbled across her path again. There will not _be_ a next time."

Chiryo and Kanjo looked at each other and smiled. Kanjo remarked at Daichi's reaction, "Then because your thoughts are intriguing, we shall help you carry out your plan. Chiryo and I will assist you, but not necessarily with our alices. We offer you our support."

"You guys are just idiots to try and take on Persona," a cold voice rang out. Out came and elementary student followed by a blonde boy of similar age, holing a rabbit. "You say all that crap, but you probably don't even have a plan. Persona has the power to kill you guys in a few touches, and _you_ think you can try to get _her_ back that easily?"

"Natsume..." the blonde boy said with concern.

"Shut up Ruka, these guys don't know what they're saying," he said. Daichi got angry.

"Hyuuga! You of all people cannot tell me what I do with my life! If I rush into death, it will be because I am doing it for something I really care about! You probably couldn't understand this feeling..." Daichi argued.

Ruka's emotions were rising, "You can't talk to Natsume like that!" he tried to fight back, but Natsume put his arms in front of him. Signaling the blonde to stop with the argument.

"Are you sure you want to sacrifice the heart, your old girlfriend gave to you, for another girl? The very heart that allowed you to live to see this very day?" he said without mercy or consideration.

Daichi paused, Natsume was right. Kawasejiri traded hearts with him, in a way they were connected by this. "I-I will...because not only do I love Nobara, Kawasejiri loves her as well. I feel it, right here," he pointed at his heart with a warm smile. Little did he realize he had spoken out a love confession in front of all his classmates. They gasped at his statement.

"Enough said," Chiryo broke in, "Now, Hyuuga, Nogi, it is your choice whether or not to be against us, for us or neutral. Otherwise, it should not be any of your concern right? Like Hanahisaki had boldly stated, if we choose to die fighting for Ibaragi-san, then that is our wish. There is no better argument than that."

Tsubasa finally joined into the conversation again, "Okay, who doesn't want to rescue Ira-chan? Go over to the left side of the hallway." About half of the students moved to the left. Tsubasa sighed and announced in a loud voice again, "Who does want to rescue Ira-chan? Go to the right side. If you are neutral, please stay in the middle." A small group of kids walked to the right side and the rest stayed in the middle.

Misaki was slightly disappointed, but she managed on by saying, "Okay, you guys on the left; we don't need your opinions about this situation. You guys in the middle, we might be relying on your indirect help some time and you guys on the right, I'm glad you're on our side."

Daichi ended with a closing declaration, "We will not be overpowered by Persona!" The group on the right cheered. By the end of the night, everyone had dispersed and returned to their bedrooms. Daichi had returned to his room by himself, which was a first in a while. He slipped into bed after changing. "Nobara-chan...I hope it's warm where you're sleeping." And with that, his eyes grew heavy and he slept soundly for the rest of the night.

**Typer's Note - **  
That was a longer chapter...At least, at least I think it was.  
At first I was worried that it going to be too short.  
But by adding some unexpected and impromptu parts in it, it got longer!  
Woo, a lot longer than I expected.  
Review this chapter if you can! I'd greatly appreciate it!  
I won't die without them, just be sorely disappointed...

**Foot Notes - **  
All of the outfits that I tried to describe, but failed in doing so, were all made up. Let's just say that Gakuen Alice wanted to try out new styles in clothing eh? Yeah, we'll go with that.  
"Chiryo Koteihyodan"  
Chiryo = Foresight, Koteihyo = Solid, Yodan = Prediction  
"Kanjo Shinmitsukan"  
Kanjo = Emotions, Shinmitsukan = Feelings of Affinity  
by the way..."Daichi Hanahisaki"  
Daichi = Earth, Hana = Flower, Hisaki = Fire


	5. New Year, New Conspiracy

The Ice Will Melt Someday

Chapter Five "New Year, New Conspiracy"

**Disclaimer: I did not make Gakuen Alice or any of its characters besides Daichi Hanahisaki, Chiryu Koteihyodan, Kanjo Shinmitsukan and Suberi Atsureki.**

The academy was bustling. It was New Years Day and everyone wore yukatas. Especially in one part of the academy, where there was a group of people, planning something, trying to regain what was lost, a conspiracy.

In another section of the school, there were a few people hidden away below the academy grounds. There held two princesses; a fire princess and an ice princess. For now, we shall learn about how the ice princess gets rescued. Sometime later in one year from this day, the fire princess will receive her freedom as well. Until the Academy revolution comes, one of them will be stuck in this place for a long time to come.

A girl with wavy hair came up to the bars of the small window. "Happy New Years everyone," she said in a soft voice.

The other girl with long bangs and a short cut hair whispered back, "Happy New Years to you too Ibaragi-san." Nobara turned around and smiled, but realized that the other girl was blind, and became into a depressed state.

"Ah, yes, you too Aoi-san," she replied. Aoi could hear the darkness in Nobara's voice, even though she couldn't see it, it didn't mean all her other senses were useless.

She decided that she will talk about it with Nobara and started a conversation. "Ibaragi-san? Do you mind if we had a little chat?" she asked politely.

Nobara thought about it and decided it would be nice. "That's fine, we don't converse much, but what do you want to talk about Aoi-san?"

Aoi contemplated. She was trying to think of a way to start the conversation. "I got it!" she exclaimed. "How come your voice sounds so…miserable? I mean, don't take it into heart, but I've heard you before and you weren't exactly _that_ disheartened then."

Daichi popped into her head. "I guess it's because he's so nice. To see him so deprived like that, it felt…bad," Nobara answered.

"Who is this, _he_?"

"Daichi Hanahisaki, have you ever heard of him?"

"No, I dare not to say. There's not much I _have_ heard about, but Persona does tell me some things, so I believe it must be very interesting. Oh, I'm ranting again, forgive me Ibaragi-san."

"Don't fret over it. Aoi-san? Can I ask a quick question?"

"I wonder what it may be, go ahead," Aoi pondered.

"Did you know you have a brother in this academy? His name is Natsume Hyuuga, infamous for his duties as the Black Cat in the dangerous class. He has the same surname as you and you two had the same alices at one point of time." Nobara concluded.

Aoi laughed. "That's ridiculous Ibaragi-san. If I had a brother in this place, why wouldn't he come and meet me? Also, Persona wouldn't keep me from something as important as that. That I know personally," she reassured.

Nobara thought otherwise, but she didn't try to keep on a futile topic. She whispered under her voice, "Hyuuga-san, how your heart must long for the sight of your beloved sister and how it must pang from your sister not knowing of your existence." She stood up from her place and was about to leave the cell. "I am going now Aoi-san." Nobara left without another word, only hearing good-bye in the background. Good-bye's were the hardest to receive in almost any given situation. She came up from underground and changed into a yukata. She was heading towards the Flower Garden Party.

Meanwhile, a group of middle schoolers and a couple of high schoolers were meeting up in Daichi Hanahisaki's room. They were planning on how to get Nobara back from Persona's clutches.

Tsubasa shivered at the thought, "Uggh, why did it have to be Persona of all people?" Misaki smacked him on the head.

"Don't waste your breath on such a-a spur of the moment statement," she scolded. Tsubasa rubbed his head, it hurt.

"What a great way to spend the New Year," one person said unenthusiastically.

Daichi turned to that person and replied critically, "Oh please, we don't need those kinds of comments here, so unless it's constructive, shut your mouth."

Another person approached him, "Good morning Hanahisaki."

"Hey, Chiryu," he greeted back, "Where's your girlfriend?"

"You mean, Kanjo? She's with some of her friends, trying to convince them to join us in the cause. Although I don't know how many supporters she'll actually get that would be devoted," Chiryu replied mannerly. He greeted some other people as well.

"Is that so?"

"It is," he smiled. "Hanahisaki, do you happen to have any idea of a plan per chance?" Chiryu inquired.

"I have a small idea, but we would need to build on it a lot, it has many possibilities and I just don't know what route to take," Daichi replied.

"Shoot, an idea is better than no clue, but understanding the situation and its consequences will also be a factor."

Daichi considered the statement. "Here it is then; my idea was to get some of our female allies into the Flower Garden Party. For surely Nobara would be there, and then we could try to get her back that way, somehow."

"That is an interesting idea you have there, Hanahisaki. Maybe you could get in as well," he joked.

Daichi glared at Chiryu, "Don't make fun of my name…"

Chiryu finished laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't resist, you had it coming when you talked about the Garden party thing. But I really do think that you need to get inside as well. We could dress you up and you could go with Misaki and Kanjo there because it would be hard to convince Nobara without you."

Daichi raised his eyebrow, "Why would she need convincing?"

"That's because Persona is so dangerous, if you were to interfere, it might be hazardous. You were lucky that he didn't use his death alice against you, but that was because Nobara escaped on her own will. Her intentions did not necessarily include _you_ in it. What you are trying to do now, Hanahisaki, is to rescue her. This plan will from the start to finish, include you and Nobara trying to work together. Do you understand what I mean by this precaution?" he reasoned.

"Yeah…" Daichi sighed. He was starting to get tired of having so many imperfections, problems, issues and concerns. At this point, he was going nuts, he just wanted to _do_ something about it.

Misaki saw the concerned boy, she approached him slowly. "Daichi..."

"What do you want now? Do you want to tell me that my plan won't work? Oh please, if you have a better one, just announce it to the world or something!" he yelled. Daichi was blowing up from the pressure. "I mean I can't handle this by myself! Am I the only one who actually wants her back? How come no one is trying as hard? I'm probably just delusional. Arggh." He pounded his head in anger.

Tsubasa came over as well, "Daichi don't kill yourself over something so stupid as that. We all want her back very badly, don't you dare worry. We just, don't exactly know how we're going to execute this plan. Besides, it's New Year's maybe we should enjoy today and wait until our minds our clear, which will be tomorrow." Tsubasa patted Daichi's back.

"That's right you idiot!" Misaki kicked him in the shin.

"Oww! Misaki, why did you do that for?" he asked in pain. Rubbing his shin to lessen the pain.

Misaki put her hands on her hips and scolded him, "Don't get yourself overworked about something like this! You're becoming someone we don't know anymore. Not only that..." She started.

Chiryo stepped into the action as well, "Not only that," he continued, "she doesn't want you to repeat the past, or so I believe?" Misaki merely nodded back. "So I'm right, well with that said, let enjoy the New Year's like Andou has proposed. You need to free your mind of her a little bit. It would be best for your health if you do so." He held out his hand towards Daichi. Daichi looked up at him, he took it. "Shall we go, Hanahisaki-hime?"

Daichi twitched again. "Go die," he paused, "and may your girlfriend find peace in it." All the students left the room and went out to celebrate with the others.

There was great food, random decorations and crazy games to play. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. It was a time to forget all their troubles, or other people's troubles. Even the fretter, Daichi, relaxed and laughed until no end at one of the pun alice. Everyone had a little fun, even the person who could see almost everything in the future.

Outside, was a lone couple, sitting on a bench facing towards the dark sky and it's collection of stars. The girl cuddled into the boy's arms and she closed her eyes and said to the boy, "You know, this is our last year at this academy. Why do you want to go out with a big bang? Shouldn't we cherish every moment, instead of loathing it? I don't understand sometimes."

The boy laughed and held her closer to his chest. "You know, I think your logic is ironic. Knowing your alice, how could you not understand it? Well, instead of asking questions, we should just try and find those answers." Silence surrounded them as they looked at the stars and laughed every time one of them pointed up.

Another boy, at the elementary level, came walking by in disgust. He broke their silence, "How corny, love is irrelevant, I don't know how people can stand being with another person so long."

The high schooler just smiled and whispered into his girlfriend's ears, she giggled. "Hyuuga, I'd like to see you hold the person you hold dear the most like this one day, in fact, I can see it in your future. When she's crying and her heart is torn, you'll be there to comfort her, leaving her to yearn for you even more than before. Just remember, everything you hear from me, you only hear once," he said.

She started talking after he finished his sentence, "Yes, Hyuuga-kun, I can see it as well, your heart is ice cold, so maybe you just need someone to melt away that sadness.

Slowly, so it won't hurt you, but fast enough so that it doesn't die. We won't be here next year to see the next chapter of your story. Just you wait, you'll know we're right."

"Tch, what makes you high schoolers think you're all that? Spouting a bunch of nonsense, you need a brain check," he spat back. "_Someone dear to my heart_, could you guys _get_ any cornier?" Natsume left without another word, he was already annoyed by the things they told him, but he was smart and he knew, most likely, no, they _were_ right. All of their predictions and assumptions were always right. However they got together, Natsume didn't even want to think about it. He cleared it out of his mind and ignored the cheery atmosphere. He was going to get Youichi, and that was all that mattered.

"Chiryu?" the girl asked her boyfriend.

"Kanjo...what is it?" He looked at her lustfully, her expression was adorable, her skin was soft, and she was in a yukata. Her hair was let down and her image was glowing in the starlight. She was close to him and he only got closer.

"Do you think we told that boy a little too much about his future?"

He sighed, it was about Natsume, but he figured he'd let it slide this time. "That's really up to him on whether or not he believes us."

"More like face reality," Kanjo laughed. "Little boys are fun to mess around with especially when they're in the rebellious age and are starting to grow more mature."

Chiryu played with Kanjo's hair for a bit, "Yeah, aren't you glad I'm more mature now?"

She bent her head back to see him with a questioned face. She saw a shooting star above her, "Hey look a shooting star!" She pointed up towards it, it moved slowly compared to their actions.

"I know," he answered. Then he locked lips in her vulnerableness. Afterwards, he let go. "Want to know what I wished for?" He smiled.

"Enough said, your heart told me everything. Now can you be more of a man and carry me back? I don't feel so well," she said sticking out her tongue.

He picked her up as if they just had their wedding and gazed into Kanjo's eyes, "You don't think I'm manly enough?" They left the bench, on it wrote next to their name was a little phrase, it said: _Let the Ice on Earth melt one day within the presence of Fire_.

Everyone fell dead asleep that night. They had partied so much and the next day they would have to go back to classes. For now, they slept peacefully, everywhere. Some were sleeping on the couches, the floor, on top of each other, against the walls, in the chairs and occasionally, on the tables.

Daichi was snoring on the ground, until someone stepped on his stomach. He cried out with pain, "Oww! Watch where you're going!" he cursed.

"Unfortunately for you, I am," the person replied calmly.

His eyes were still blurry from trying to adjust to the brightness. "Wait, what, who are you?" he stuttered.

"You idiot, I need to tell you something before you go off and kill yourself," he said coldly.

Daichi's eyes widened and he saw who it was very clearly. "H-Hyuuga?"

At that moment of time, a shadowy figure approached Nobara. "You will go on a mission tonight and another day, so you cannot go to the Flower Garden Party. Do you understand this Nobara?"

She looked towards the ground despairingly and replied, "Yes Persona…I understand completely."

"Change that look on your face, since you're going on a mission, you can't show your weak side like that!" he commanded. All of a sudden, Nobara's personality changed.

Her eyes became killer and she went off without another word. Persona was very pleased with her second alice, the Split Personality alice activated by Persona, himself. Another student who came from the dangerous class came up to Persona.

They asked him, "Shouldn't we report this threat about Ibaragi to the principals?"

"It is not necessary; we can easily handle some small group of useless alice brats. That's the reason why we set aside another class, the dangerous class, for students who are actually talented and useful in their field," he smirked.

"So, you've planned it all out already. Not letting Nobara go to the Flower Garden Party, perchance to meet anyone who is siding with Hanahisaki. That is very intelligent of you, Persona."

"You are underestimating me. Speaking of which, go with her that night, in case somehow, she decides to have change of heart," Persona ordered.

"Of course," they replied. The person bowed respectively and went off, using their friction alice to slide across the rocky surface of the underground quickly.

Nobara retaliated with her ice alice when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Suberi Atsureki," she let out when her eyes finally recognized the boy next to her. He had dark brown messy hair and had the high school uniform on.

The boy gave out a hiss, "Jeez, Nobara, cool it with the alice. It's only me anyways."

"I _am_ cool with my alice." Her split personality showed. "I still don't get why you are in the dangerous class, how is friction _dangerous_?" Nobara tried to strike conversation, the flame burned brightly with Suberi.

"Now you've done it Nobara! Friction is dangerous! I mean, don't get me started. If there was no friction, you couldn't even stand up straight or go where you wanted. Also, I can move better. As long as my skills are still sharp and control the use friction, I can be like the ultamite ninja!" Suberi ranted on about how important and cool the alice of friction is. The two of them went off towards their next mission. "...wouldn't you know? Friction has so many possibilities in this world and it is so aweso--" He was cut out when Nobara covered Suberi's mouth.

"Just shut up for a moment," Nobara scolded. Suberi pouted. "Okay, I'll freeze the ground and you knock them out." She handed him a target list. They were near a suspicious looking warehouse near the docks. "Attack these people and anyone who tries to protect them. I'll make they don't go anywhere and you might want to put on a jacket or something. New Year's is cold enough." Suberi took the paper and read it.

"You can count on me to totally own them," he declared with a smirk on his face.

"Atsureki, you need to stop playing random video games," she replied monotonously. He rolled his eyes. The plan was in action. Nobara used her alice and slowly started to freeze the ground. The door was easy to open now, she opened it and snuck in while Suberi stood guard outside for the moment. Then she looked over the boxes she was hiding behind. Inside, people were dealing drugs and the like. "Time to punish these losers," she said to herself. The men in suits were about to go through the exit when Nobara used her alice to freeze it.

They were shocked. "W-What's going on?" one of the asked. The others shook their heads in the confusion. Nobara smiled and froze the remaining exits except for the one that Suberi was supposed to enter through. Nobara cued him in with an icicle that formed through the cracks. Everyone else was in panic.

"Go time!" he exclaimed. Immediately all heads turned to the only door that wasn't frozen. They tried to head toward it, but Nobara froze the ground underneath them. Many falling onto the ice in the chaos. Suberi used his alice and slid towards one of the dealers. His body low to the ice. He shivered, "It surprisingly _is_ cold, I can't believe I wasn't prepared." One of his legs were outstretched as he was sliding through the ice. Suberi tripped anyone who wasn't already on the ice. Then he did a back flip and landed on his two feet standing. Trying to gain momentum, he started 'skating' across the across and threw a few punches and did some ice skating / karate improvised attacks.

Nobara came out and barricaded the remaining door and froze anyone who tried to get in her way, or in Suberi's way. Her eyes showed no mercy to anyone who pleaded for it. One of the men tried to reach from the briefcase holding the money. "Tch. Money is all they care about, what a selfish bunch of people," she glared at him and unleashed her alice. The money froze and Suberi caught on. He grasped the briefcase while sliding backwards, retreating from the people chasing him. Then he started to spin and hurled the frozed briefcase at his pursuers. They were caught by surprise and were knocked out by the tremendous force. The briefcase shattered into a flurry of glitter.

After Nobara and Suberu finished their business, they exited the remaining door and the met someone who was in their way. "Natsume..." the brunette merely stated. Natsume was standing in front of them, he was holding out a sphere of fire and threw it between Nobara's and Suberi's heads. It slowly defrosted the ice on the ground.

He scoffed at the two, "I was supposed to spend my time with Youichi, but I'm stuck cleaning up your dirty work. You two just _had_ to freeze the whole warehouse, didn't you?" Natsume impatiently pushed Nobara to the side and melted the ice along the ground and doors.

Nobara didn't give any reaction, she just left Natsume to his business. Suberi hurried along to follow her. They went into the car that Natsume came by. The car drove off when Natsume completed his chores and entered the black van. On the way the three of them saw fireworks in the midnight sky. Nobara sighed, "How stupid." Suberi elbowed her and gave her another piece of paper. She read it, crumpled it up and threw it to Natsume who was sitting in the front seat. "We're going to have a stakeout for the next part of the mission. It's going to be more than a week before we're going to get back to the academy."

"Like I care?" Natsume replied as coldly as Nobara's alice. "Not like I want to go back to that stupid academy anyways. Anyways, why is Atsureki in this mission? His alice isn't dangerous."

Nobara quickly threatened Natsume before Suberi could, "Don't get him started. If you do, I swear, I'll freeze you Hyuuga." She was already sick of hearing Suberi talking about friction.

Suberi sat pack in his seat with his arms crossed, "Well, sorry," he apologized sarcastically, "I can't help it if I don't have some type of element like you two. Ice, fire...earth or whatever." He ranted to himself some more, but the other two only ignored them. "Gonna be a long week, " he finally concluded. The rest of the ride was silent.

At the academy however, a different mood was hanging in the air. "So much for my plan," the green streaked hair boy sighed. "What should I do now?" He drew on the wall he was leaning on with his fingers. He let out another sigh and saw the first flecks of snow. He stuck out his tongue and let the snow land on his tongue, it quickly dissolved. "The world is a bit late on things, aren't they? To have it snowing only now..."

**Typer's Note -**  
Been a while since I actually updated.  
Too bad it isn't actually New Year's right now huh?  
Hope it was...okay.  
I have so many random original characters. Like...*counts* five?  
I'm terrible at descriptions and imagery.  
Review if you can. Constructive criticism rocks too!

**Foot Notes -**  
"Suberi Atsureki"  
Suberi = Sliding, Atsureki = Friction


	6. Just in Times for Valentines

The Ice Will Melt Someday

Chapter Six "Just in Time for Valentines"

**Disclaimer: I did not make the manga, but I made the fanfiction and a few of its characters.**

It was almost time for White Day in Gakuen Alice, and all the girls were preparing their own secret chocolates with their own special twists; whether the boys liked them or not. Even though he was a boy, Daichi Hanahisaki was always busy during this time. If you can cook well, chocolate in particular, you are sure to be mauled by inexperienced girls that are love sick to death. Everyone knows that White Day is not just an event, it's a sport, which can mean life or death to any or all relationships. It's just another one of those holidays that you either love or hate.

"Hold on, hold on! One at a time please, I don't want to die, just not yet," Daichi requested. A small crowd of girls were begging him to teach them how to make irresistible chocolate for their boyfriends/admirers/love target/or any phrase/word that you would use to describe them.

One girl got ahold of his shirt, "Please Daichi-senpai, teach us, we'll die if we can't make chocolates this year!" The other girls only added to it and he finally gave in; his shirt was on the line you know?

"Fine fine, I give up!" He raised both of his hands to signal defeat. "I'm gonna have to borrow the home economics room and then I'll hold lessons... at 3 o' clock today, mhmkay?" The girls jumped gleefully ad thanked him for his patronage. While everyone was leaving he called out to them, "And that's the only time I'm going to do it! You've been warned!" he shouted. The poor boy sighed in annoyance, "I'm glad some people are having fun..."

Of course, he was thinking about his favorite person, Nobara Ibaragi. It's not like he hasn't seen her since the Christmas Ball; he passed by her in the hallways occasionally. It's more like, she was too busy to stay around and have a chat with him. Even if she did have the time, sometimes Persona would be near her and her split personality was apparent. Persona kept her working on missions with her partner, Suberi Atsureki, remember him? He's the 'friction is awesome' guy.

Staring into mid air, he bumped into the said person, which said person? This said person, "Daichi!" she exclaimed in surprised.

"Nobara!" he exclaimed back.

"What are you staring at? You weren't paying attention when you were walking, that could be dangerous."

He shook his head, trying to get back into reality, "Uhh.. yeah, dangerous."

"Are you busy today? I saw a lot of girls crowding around you," she asked.

"I'm going to hold a chocolate class at 3 o' clock today, but I still need permission to use the home economics rooms. Come by okay? Later!" he left her, even though in reality, he didn't really want to, but Daichi thought it might be for the better.

Nobara stood there, "Okay," she merely replied, but it wasn't loud enough for him to hear her.

In no time, it was 3 o' clock and Daichi was in the room early. A flood of girls entered the room, much more than he anticipated. "I didn't think they would_ advertise_ it," he whispered to himself quietly. In the meanwhile, he was greeting the girls and asked them to take a seat wherever. Unsure of what to do, he decided to just teach it, like how they did it on T.V. Although, the last time he got to watch television was before he entered this academy. Once the basic steps were over, he got a bunch of random questions about how to do other random things to it. "Sorry, but I'm just teaching you how to make chocolates, not anything else. You'll have to figure that out yourself."

Daichi looked around for anyone else who needed help, ignoring the groans of other girls. He noticed one girl in particular, she was in the back corner of the room and was very quiet. He was lured over there and asked her over of her shoulder, "Need help?" he offered. He looked closer, "Nobara!"

She quickly shushed him by putting her index finger over her lips. "Shhh Daichi. I'm not going to be here on White Day, so I'll give this to you now." She handed him the freshly made chocolate. He took it with no questions asked. "Missions."

"And the extras?"

"Friction boy."

"Of course."

"I got to go now, see you around Daichi!" She left him in the same manner he left her.

"Talk about deja vu," he said to himself. Once all the girls finished with their business, he came to the front of the class, just realizing that he made a set of chocolates himself. What to do with them? He carried his set of chocolates on top of Nobara's chocolate and was tossing them while exiting the classroom. He was met with a rambunctious boy strolling down the hallway. "The hell? Hyuuga?" Curious, Daichi was determined to follow the firecaster.

Natsume turned around and hissed at Daichi, "What are doing following me?"

"Uhh... I need you to give this box of chocolates to Nobara?" he asked with uncertainty.

"I'd rather melt it before touching your chocolates."

"Can you? Just please Hyuuga, this is the only favor I'm going to ask of you, give it to her." He threw the box of chocolates to Natsume, expecting him to catch it. Instead, Natsume stepped backwards enough that the candy fell on the ground and an obvious breaking noise was heard.

Natsume still had a poker face on, "I told you, I'm not touching anything you made."

"Come on! Give me a break, I don't really think you're that careless, but I don't really know what to think anymore." Daichi knelt down and picked up the misshapen box and shoved it into Natsume's chest. "Take it. Give it to her. Done deal." He left before the boy could argue anymore.

Nobara came back to the dangerous ability classroom and sat next to her partner. "Where were you?" he asked.

"I was busy," she whispered back.

"That tells me a lot," he replied sarcastically.

Persona came into the classroom, he looked around. "Natsume skipped out again I see." He then set down a pile of files he was holding. "These are the profiles and information of future students that the principal were interested in. Occupied with his own work, he left it to our class to decide who's capable enough to join. So take a look at them and we'll examine all of them together later."

Suberi grabbed one of the folders in particular and read the profile with a perk of interest, apparent on his facial expression. "Hey Nobara," he called over. She looked over his shoulder and stared at him. "Wasn't that the guy you were with before, Daichi Hanahisaki?"

"He was, why?" she asked with the same amount of curiosity he had.

Friction boy pointed at the picture and then dragged it to the interesting pieces of information. "Look here, he's one of the candidates."

Her eye's widened, "But a cooking alice isn't as dangerous as a friction alice!"

He gave her a look, "Thanks... but his alice isn't the alice of cooking. At least, not anymore."

"What do you mean, not _anymore_?" she asked with concern.

Suberi pointed at a certain spot, "See here, it says, _Alice: Equivalent Exchange_. There's even a whole section dedicated to what it is and everything. It reads..._Used to have the alice of cooking. After incident with Kawasegiri Shunko, he had obtained a new alice. She had taken his alice of cooking from him and gave him her own alice before she died. He did not notice until his cooking skills began to falter, but not enough for most others to notice. This was kept as a secret from the staff and the students and he remained in the technology class._"

"No way..." The two of them kept reading it and didn't notice that Persona was back and ready to talk about the new members. They only snapped back into reality when he said, Daichi Hanahisaki. "Huh?"

"He has the alice of equivalent exchange, special ability class, and used to have the cooking alice." The other students laughed at his profile. "At least we know he can handle fire. Maybe if he joins, he can be Natsume's partner." The class laughed even harder, but only Nobara and Suberi did not. Persona looked over towards the only two who weren't cracking up. "Not amused, you two?"

"This is a serious matter," Nobara stated coldly.

Suberi matched his gaze, "If they're going to take on these missions, they can't be weak willed, choose the wrong ones and missions with have a higher fail rate."

He grinned, just ever so slightly, "If only the class was as serious as you two, but don't think for a second I don't know what's going on."

"Is there something wrong with the way we're acting right now?" she asked.

"No, but when you put this boy and your partner next to you, it makes it even more suspicious." He approached Nobara and was about to touch her cheek.

Until Suberi, on an impulse, retaliated. "Don't touch her!" he shouted. The whole class was watching the action intently. He accidentally knocked off Persona's mask in the spur of the moment. "Uhh.." he stuttered, just realizing what he had done. He looked at his hand, there were black marks forming and they were spreading, fast. His eyes widened, "What the hell...?"

"Suberi, no!" She came over to his side as he was staring at this alien invading his body. "Persona's alice... is the alice of death... You should've known that..." she trailed off. Nobara started crying for him.

"Help! Help! Can't anyone cure this? This... this.. ARGH!" he screamed. Suberi crashed into the floor and grasped his hands, not taking off his eyes from the spreading death mark.

Persona put his mask back on, "I hope all of you remember this, my alice is almost next to impossible to cure."

Nobara held him in her arms, her first partner, and she had a feeling, he was going to be her last. "Suberi..."

He managed to stop squirming around as much, "Nobara... I'm sorry, but I guess I'm going to make it after all."

"What? Why?" she asked fruitlessly.

"That reason doesn't matter... What matters is that, you remember to tell everyone how awesome friction is, okay?" he said weakly.

They continues to talk to each other for the remaining moments of his life. No one tried to help him, it would've been better that way. When Suberi Atsureki finally died in Nobara's arms, Natsume entered the room. He threw a box by her side. "It's from that guy," he said simply. Natsume raised his eyebrows, "What happened here?"

"He died," she forced, there was a sad smile on her face. Nobara opened the box of chocolates robotically and put it in her mouth, "Bitter." A white day turned black. Once again, purity was overtaken by an inky black evil.

**Typer's Note -**  
Super short chapter because I need to update with something and get back into the mood of writing this.  
So anyways, the FF is alive! ...and very confusing, but don't worry (worry now because I'm horrible at remembering) it will get better ;D  
Suberi dies! Why does this happen? Well you'd have to read til the end of for that answer.  
Thanks for reading if you did. Two more chapters and yes, you don't have to review this time.  
Review if you can or want to though, it's a weird chapter I know, but... I ran out of excuses.


	7. Fighting for Death

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Seven "Fighting for Death"

**Disclaimer: Manga = not mine. Random characters you don't remember from the original manga? = mine.**

Try, try again as he might. He couldn't concentrate on his test. There was something bugging him and it wasn't good. This was confirmed when the teacher waved around a note and walked it up to Daichi. "This is for you Hanahisaki," the teacher said simply.

He picked it up and was surprised at what it said. He asked his teacher, "Can I go now?" With a flick of the wrist, Daichi stood up and left the room, he headed towards the elementary school 's principal's office. "Why would that principal want to see me? I bet I failed this grade or something..." Entering the eerie room, he opened the door to see some people he never thought he'd see for a long time... Nobara and Natsume. Then there was Persona...

"Welcome Daichi-san..." the principal greeted monotonously. "Do you know why you're here today?"

"Uhh... no?" he said in a somewhat hopeful manner.

"You have the chance to experience the outside world and be with your beloved Ice Princess," the principal explained. Nobara blushed at the last statement and looked away. "You'll also be transferred into the Dangerous Ability Class and if you don't want to, you don't have to go to your regular curricular classes anymore either. How 'bout it Daichi-san? It sounds like a good deal to me."

He didn't hesistate to answer back, "For you, yes, it is a good deal. For me, no, my deal isn't as fail proof. The only cool thing about it is being able to hang around Nobara more, but the rest of the 'perks' aren't the greatest in a long run." Nobara sighed in relief, but her hopes were broken when Persona entered the discussion.

"You have the alice of equivalent exchange Hisaki. That's a dangerous alice within itself and you have no choice, _but_ to join the Dangerous Ability Class. You remember Suberi Atsureki right? Even _he_ made friction dangerous..." Persona persuaded.

Daichi glaced over the room and didn't see the said Friction boy. He asked, "Where is he anyways?"

With a solemn expression Nobara broke the news, "H-He's dead."

"What?" he asked in shock.

"Dead," she repeated, "he died yesterday..."

"White Day..." he remembered.

Stepping back into the point of the discussion, the principal cut into their conversation, "Since he's dead.... poor Nobara-san doesn't have a partner and now she'll have to do all the work by herself. Most of her missions regard illegal drug dealers and treacherous night jobs. It's going to be hard without her senpai Suberi there..."

Now he struggled to come up with an answer to the principal's offer. The boy glanced at Nobara for a decision and then examined the other students of the Dangerous Ability class. Their icy stares pierced through his physical self. "I'll do it," he resolved.

"No!" Nobara protested, but some students kept her mouth shut. She tried to get herself out of the binding, but he was heading towards the tundra wasteland that had frozen the classe's hearts a long time ago. She managed to free her mouth and shouted again, "Don't do it Daichi!"

He listened regretfully at Nobara's voice. Whispering under his breath a mournful sorry. "I'll do it," he confirmed with the principal.

"Stop! Daichi, don't! Daichi... no..." she trailed off. Her tears were taking control and she was horrified.

Natsume was observing her reaction and was slightly confused as to her reaction. "Why are you so sad? That guy is joining the Dangerous Ability class and now you get to see him just about everyday now."

"I-I don't want him to be in this class... He doesn't deserve to be in this class," she began. "I liked it when he was with everyone else. He- Daichi was much happier with Kage-san... Misaki-chan...Megane... everyone! Not here... he'll be trapped in the same damn place as us. He'll freeze and shatter one day... just l-like Suberi-senpai. I can't let that happen Hyuuga, I _will not_ let it happen."

"Tch. What happened to his plan to get you out of this class? He obiously failed to complete that mission. So for breaking his promise, he deserves to be in this class," Natsume reasoned.

She glared at him, "This isn't hell Natsume. This class is a _living_ hell. You can't understand how I feel about this whole situation. It's not like the one you love is being sucked into this darkness or anything!"

He hissed back, "Don't you dare think for a moment that I don't know how that feels. She... _she's_ in that _place_ because... of me."

"That's your problem Hyuuga! This is a whole 'nother one and won't let anyone I love be dragged into this place."

A hand came on her shoulder, and her body reacted fearfully. "I'm your new partner Nobara."

"Natsume you distracted me... y-you bastard!" Her personality was changing again, but slowly this time. She was prepared to attack the fire caster with a sphere of ice, but Daichi stopped her in time. Everyone else just watched as the quarrel between fire and ice got intense. Nobara gasped, all Daichi had to do was cover her hands with his and her alice was stopped. It wasn't because of some type of nullification or a complicated process involving equal exchange. It was simply a display of incredible will power and confidence.

The principal applauded the impromptu show. "You have a quite impressive class Persona. You must be careful to control your students though. At this rate they'll be dead sooner than you notice. You are all excused now." He turned and went into another room altogether.

Disdainfully Nobara whispered into Daichi's ears, "Why did you have to do that?"

"Because I'm getting you out of here." Her heart skipped a beat.

All the students went into the Dangerous Ability classroom and hung around waiting for Persona to give them their missions. "Have you seen your file yet?" Nobara asked curiously.

"No, but maybe I should..." Daichi shrugged. He walked over towards one of the many file cabinets and pulled out and file. Whence coming back, Nobara gaped at him.

"How did you know it was that cabinet? Have you been in here before?" The Dangerous Ability classroom was modified and organized differently than the other classrooms.

He thought about it and answered, "No... but it's more like Kawasejiri's soul is kind of guiding me... Like a long lost routine I guess."

"Oh... Kawasejiri... she... she was in the Dangerous Ability class?"

Nodding, he scanned through his file."Wow... they know just about everything about me huh? Reading about me is more fun than I thought."

"How come I've never heard of her all this time then?" she continued asking.

"Well, she never really needed to go on missions. It's more like she only had to be there when they needed her to do something extremely difficult," he explained. Just as he stood up to put away his file in the file cabinet, they heard a loud thump noise. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but we need to check it out," Nobara said concernedly. The two ran out of the room and found out the sound was coming from outside. "Hyuuga!"

Natsume was on the ground with new bruises, cuts and injuries that weren't there before. "What the hell happened to you? We just saw you an hour ago man!" Daichi scrambled towards the kid and examined the wounds.

The boy tried to push Daichi away, but he was too weak to do it. Thus, he fell on the ground, slightly unconscious. Nobara stepped up forward and said, "I think it was because he had so many missions this week and someone... Persona... was pressuring him to do more."

"It doesn't just have to be Persona. It can be that elementary school principal as well," Daichi speculated. Seeing a teacher pass by, Daichi called out to them.

The teacher ran over and asked, "What happened?" The he gasped, "Natsume? My student, haha... thanks so much you two. I'll take him to the infirmary." He had a European look and was slightly girlish, who else can it be but... Naru. As soon as he came, he left and the two middle schoolers were left slightly speechless.

Deciding to ignore the infamous teacher of the pheromones, they went back to the problem at hand. "These two... are overloading you guys with missions. You... Natsume and everyone else. We have to stop this!"

"There's nothing we can do about it. Persona... his alice is the alice of death. You saw how many alice restraints were put on him and that still isn't enough!"

"Tch... then we're leaving this academy for good," he said darkly, "That's the only way."

"That's ridiculous!" the ice princess protested. "No one has every gotten out of this academy besides from graduation. How... you can't, it's too dangerous."

"...and you're the one complaining Miss DA pawn?"

Nobara was quiet and continued, "Daichi, that's just not the wisest choice."

"Wisest choice my ass! We're leaving... and we're going now," he declared. Daichi grabbed her wrist forcefully and started walking towards the gates.

"You can't!" she resisted. "I mean, we can't! We'll both be chased after and it's not going to do any good!" Truthfully, it wouldn't have been hard to just freeze his feet to the ground, but Nobara didn't want to use her alice against him.

He was getting impatient and continued to drag her along even though he knew she wouldn't like it. "Please... don't make this harde-"

"No!" she screamed. "This is the only place I have left Daichi! I don't have a family last that I remember! There's no where for us to go without being suspected for doing something. You don't have any idea what it's like out there out of this academy! You haven't seen it like I have. I told him I would keep... you..." she struggled to find words that didn't already conflict with her previous ideas. "Just don't Daichi, don't..."

Someone suddenly dropped into their conversation. Daichi spun around to see Persona right behind Nobara. "Ah! Nobara he's behind you!" he pointed out.

She turned to see Persona as well and he caught her by her uniform. "You two weren't planning a honeymoon already were you?" The two were too shocked to say anything. "I must say, that's a daring decision for you Hanahisaki, expecially since you just joined the Dangerous Ability class. You shouldn't get to cocky and manipulate Nobara's mind like that."

"What are you talking about?" Daichi glared at Persona.

"I'm saying that you're taking control of little Nobara's mind. She doesn't have many friends you know? So you should stop taking advantage of her," he sneered.

She flushed, "N-No, that's not true."

"You, or should I mention the principal as well? You guys should stop taking advantage of students in the prime of their lives who are already shunned from the world. Stop using them to do your dirty work and maybe I'll back down."

"And you think I'll listen to you?" Persona stated.

Daichi smirked, "No... because you won't be able to listen, let alone hear what I have to say after I'm done with you!" Daichi dashed forward and knocked Nobara into the ground before she could do anything. Then he took ahold of Persona's hand while saying some few inaudible words. A bright light alit from the joined hands and Daichi stared at his hand, "It's working..."

Nobara's eyes widened, "What are you doing!?" She wanted to warned him, but she knew that he knew.

Persona activated his death alice and Daichi said, "Just what I wanted..." Persona couldn't move for some reason and was frozen.

"I'm frozen!" he said in shock. Persona knew that Nobara didn't have an opening to freeze him, so it could have only been Daichi. "How did yo-?"

"Let's say I traded Nobara for some of her alice. Say goodbye to this world Persona because in the world of equivalent exchange death pays for death. And you owe me big time when I 'took' your alice within me." Daichi was struggling to keep standing and fell on the ground with Persona.

The ice princess stood back up, but couldn't get near them. The light was shining brighter and bigger. "Daichi don't! You're taking too much in!" she cried.

In an instinct the light expanded incredulously and then died down soon after. Both were on the ground, barely alive.

**Typer's Note - **  
I can't keep promises, but here's an update!  
Finally... alright... that's it... enjoyeth maybe.


	8. The Best Birthday Present

The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Eight "The Best Birthday Present"

**Disclaimer: It's the last chapter (YES!) -coughs- Unfortunately... So if you don't remember this weird character; I probably made them up. But if you do remember a character from the original manga; then no joke, it's not mine! Plus there's more disclaimers, but if I said anything else, then it would give away the much awaited for ending ]= So I'll just tell you at the Typer's Note... (long disclaimer)**

"D-Daichi...?" Nobara stuttered as she approached the two motionless figures. She knelt on the ground next to them; lifting the boy's head onto her lap. Her eyes began to tear up because she knew what was going to happen to him.

The boy managed a smile, "I'm... going... to d-"

"Shut up!" Nobara interrupted, "You're not going to di... Not now. You just can't. Honestly, I'm sure where this aching in my heart is coming from or why it's happening, but I know that. If you die, I can't..." The tears were flooding down her face. Everything that happened to her was always so devastating. Nothing really came good for her, and so far; that reality didn't change one bit yet. "You're going to be the second funeral this week! That just doesn't happen!" Her voice was screaming in disbelief. She had lost two people that she was close to; all too soon.

Daichi squeezed her hand, getting her attention. "I couldn't kill Persona after all..." The ice princess looked away. "He's too strong and..."

"And what?" This was going to be her last conversation with him, and dragged it out as long as she could. Nobara was absolutely against the idea of having the academy meddle into this case.

"He cares about you too Nobara," the boy admitted; although still a little reluctant in his weak state.

She glanced at the dark figure near them; still, but she knew he was alive. "I guess he does. Persona was never really bad; just always made out to be."

"Hey Nobara?" Nobara gave him her attention. "Just remember..." he started with his breath, "...the ice will melt someday." So he died in her arms, on her lap... where no one could see, or figure out what happened.

A few months passed by, and the school year was eventually over. The seniors from the high school division had graduated and left the academy for the outside world. Nobara didn't officially graduate from the first year because of all the sneakiness, but it didn't matter too much. It was almost Nobara's birthday, but she wasn't anticipating anything at all. Persona had to recover from the 'incident'; no one found out about what happened to Daichi though. Thus, Nobara was allowed to finish off that particular school year outside of the dangerous class.

"Nobara, Nobara!" a familiar voice cried out.

She turned to see a few people from her class, "Andou-senpai? Misaki-chan? Megane...?"

"Happy birthday!" Misaki exclaimed cheerfully.

Still a little suspicious, Nobara raised an eyebrow and said, "Thank you."

Tsubasa nudged her arm, "We know you feel down because of... you know who. But we have to fulfill his dying request; and that is... this!" He pulled out a fairly medium sized wrapped present from his shadowy sources. Megane and Misaki helped emphasize the gift by showcasing it; even including sound effects. "Open it," Tsubasa encouraged.

She tore the box open; a little excited, but also scared of what the gift contained. After not being in the dangerous class for so long, Nobara was getting a little more casual than before. "It's a... an alice stone!" She dangled the necklace before her eyes. The color was of a transparent metal steel hue. "So pretty..."

"Wow it is! Here, let me put it on you," Misaki suggested. The doppelganger come around and fastened the necklace around Nobara's neck. "It looks beautiful on you, Nobara-chan."

Absorbed by the glean of the rock, she glanced down at the box to notice a card. "This is... a note from Daichi." She read it out loud, "_Happy Birthday Nobara. I think it might have been terrible for you to have known I died. So as a favor for your birthday, I just wanted to say... I truly do want you to forget. I'm not in your life anymore because that's how it was supposed to happen. Don't worry, in the near future, there will be a girl who can even calm the fire, so she can melt your ice one day. Sincerely, Daichi._"

Before anyone could say anything about the letter. The alice stone around Nobara's neck illuminated and engulfed the whole school in light. Equivalent exchange; memories = existence.

It was time for the Christmas Ball again, and our heroine was definitely excited for it. Unfortunately, she had returned to working in the dangerous ability class, and hasn't had a decent getaway in months. So she decided to become a little rebellious; just this one time again. Instead of heading towards her classroom, Nobara took a little detour over to the Grand Hall.

She peeked in through the doors and decided to go for it! Her hair was in a state of a curly mess, but she never really bothered with the appearance since it is natural after all. The girl walked around and attempted to ask some classmates if they needed help, but none of them offered. Even though, it was very clear that they could use some more help. "Ah..." Nobara tried once more.

"You are Nobara Ibaragi, right? We don't have anything that you could help with... We have a lot to do already..." the student said, and she left.

A bit sad, the ice princess was left alone and then came a rushing boy, "What a nuisance," he said nonchalantly. Accidentally knocking down Nobara, who fell on the tile flooring.

"Ah!" she shouted when she fell. Feeling the nerves sending out pain signals, she tried to regain composure, "Kyaa..." Then Nobara met face to face with a little brown haired girl with pigtails. "Ah."

Miss Pigtails smiled brightly and helped Nobara up. "It's kind of funny. I kinda feel close to you. No one wanted my help either, but eventually, I found something even I could do! Want to help me?" she asked nicely.

Stunned by this young girl's kindness, Nobara couldn't help but have trouble taking it all in, "Let... Letting me help, is it really okay?"

"Relax, relax! This is a big help," the girl with pigtails assured. Nobara was happy to be able to finally help out! Until the brunette noticed something, "However, because we're dealing with food, we can't have hair loose like that. Tie it up and put it in a hat."

Now, Nobara realized that maybe messy hair does matter in some cases. "Ehh?"

"Hmm?" Miss Pigtails handed Nobara a hat to use while cooking. "Let me help you with your coat!" she insisted.

"Ah." Nobara then resolved to just do as the little girl said, removing her bangs in the process. Now she could see a lot better. "Thank you," Nobara thanked while noticing Miss Pigtail's strange reaction towards the bang removals. Then the ice princess thought inside of her head, "Putting all of my hair in the hat. Changing my image, maybe people won't recognize me then..."

The two started conversing for a bit. "Oh! First year in middle school? I-I really didn't know you were senpai!" the brown haired girl panicked.

"It... It's okay! You really don't need to call me senpai or use honorifics!" Nobara insisted.

Then they talked some more... "You're called Nobara Ibaragi. Your name is cute too! My name is Mikan Sakura," Miss Pigtails finally introduced.

Completely infatuated by her, Nobara couldn't help but compliment Mikan, "What... What a cute name..." And though at the same time, "Mikan-chan..." Absolutely loving her situation right now.

Mikan giggled and remembered, "Ah, our job is to turn these." Mikan pondered for a couple of seconds before bringing up another topic of conversation, "Right, oh yes, oh yes, what is Nobara-chan's alice?" she asked.

"Nobara-chan..." the ice princess blushed at the friend honorifics, but suddenly recalled the question. "Ah... I am... My alice is ice type."

"Ice alice! Cool!" Mikan exclaimed, "But I've only seen it once before."

"Mikan is so cute," Nobara thought again... Nobara really likes Mikan.

And then, Mikan's light bulb went off. "How about... Let me ask you something! Can you make the air cold quick?"

Not so sure why Mikan is asking, Nobara replies with a hesitant, "Ah... this... yes..."

"That means, you can make these sponge cakes cooler? I really want to put on the icing sooner," the peppy girl requested in her, not only puppy dog eyes, but also puppy dog tails and eyes form as well.

"Oh..." But since this is one of the only few times she has made such a good friend, she resolved it to be okay to use her alice; knowing how dangerous it can be. "I'll try..."

Replying with the unexpected, "REALLY!?" Nobara couldn't back down now.

"So... So rare that someone is so happy," Nobara blushed. "I have to try hard!" she focused on the cakes and let her alice flow from her hands. It turns out that Nobara had released a bit TOO much energy and frozen the entire surface.

Some students noticed some changes in the cakes and reacted to it, "What happened!? This... The sponge cakes are all frozen!?" they shouted. Another one panicked, "Ah--- What is this?"

Out of nowhere, fire engulfed the sponge cakes and they returned to normal state. All the cooking students were completely stunned by the melting cakes and the perfect state of previous-ness (if that's not a real word.) Knowing how, 'dense', these student's are, they figured that they were just imagining things and that the cakes weren't really frozen at all.

Fireboy arrived to the scene, plus he saved the cakes. "What, are you doing here?" he questioned the ice girl.

Mikan was a bit surprised to see him, "Na-"

But Nobara was even more surprised, as in the state of which she felt completely and utterly... basically, in trouble, "Natsume-kun," she trembled in horror. Miss Pigtails wasn't sure what was going on and continued to watch them.

"Get back to your cocoon," he threatened, and then left after saying so.

Nobara became a little distressed, and admitted to Mikan, "Sorry, Mikan... Actually... I still cannot control my alice very well..."

"I see!" Mikan said cheerfully. "Since it's like that, I wonder if we can do this?" The ice princess was once again amazed at Mikan's cheery powers, and optimism. "This idea may be worth a try! I am the nullification alice. If we use our alices at the same time, the power may merge and we can use the right temperature to cool the cakes!" She continued on with, "Anyone can fail once or twice. It's okay. So, want to try again?" Nobara agreed, and both of them tried out their new plan on one of the cakes first. Mikan held onto Nobara's back and both released their alices simultaneously. "We did it!" Mikan exclaimed happily; which of course, made Nobara very happy as well. "Wonderful! Wonderful! Our alices can be of use! Yay! I'm so happy! Let's continue working hard like this."

One of the students on the cooking team passed by and noticed the good progress. "It's time to spread the butter on... wanna help?"

"But-ter?" Mikan's eyes sparkled when she heard that word. So Nobara and Mikan happily went to work on spreading the butter. Hotaru even dropped by and teased Mikan a little bit before heading off again.

Nobara felt truly happy inside, and she finally knows why Natsume's eyes have softened. "Let me get some water." She felt so happy, and honestly felt like it was a good decision to have snuck out. She knows now that whomever told her that someone could calm the fire, was right. Because that girl could also melt the ice with her personality. In the midst of her joyous thoughts however, she bumped into someone.

But then again, you know the rest of the story.

**Typer's Note - **  
Alright, that's the end.  
As you may have noticed.  
The third part's dialogue is straight from the manga translation!  
So props to those translators, and hopefully you enjoyed the meaning of the story.  
I can now rest easy because this story is at its close.  
Write more Nobara FF's you guys! I love her ;D Until the next FF!!


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